CurlyWhirly Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 I've just migrated to Vista Home Premium and, for some reason, Windows can't see my DVD writer (which I used to use in my old XP machine) yet it's visible in the BIOS It doesn't show up when inserting a CD or DVD.I've checked in Device Manager and it's not listed there either.Any ideas anyone?Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 Speaking from down here in my comfortable trough of ignorance I would suggest Belarc Adviser might be used, and see what it finds......that is if BA is useable with Vista. I have found it a useful little app.http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyWhirly Posted January 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 Speaking from down here in my comfortable trough of ignorance I would suggest Belarc Adviser might be used, and see what it finds......that is if BA is useable with Vista. I have found it a useful little app.http://www.belarc.com/free_download.htmlYes Belarc Advisor is Vista compatible.Unfortunately it's not showing in Belarc either.My hard drive is showing (blue) and my Blu Ray drive (red) but not my DVD writer :( p.s. it's strange that Belarc Advisor labels it as a CD-ROM drive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan2273 Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 Is the DVD, SATA or IDE ?. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyWhirly Posted January 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 Is the DVD, SATA or IDE ?.IDE, it does show up in the BIOS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rong Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 I take it this is the only IDE drive you have in this PC, so have you checked that the ribbon is in properly, also you could try it in the other plug. The other thing is to check the jumper is set right, not sure that it is necessary but maybe set it to master. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyWhirly Posted January 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 I take it this is the only IDE drive you have in this PC, so have you checked that the ribbon is in properly, also you could try it in the other plug. The other thing is to check the jumper is set right, not sure that it is necessary but maybe set it to master.Mmm... upon closer examination the DVD writer isn't showing in the BIOS.I don't understand it as only my DVD writer is connected using an old type IDE cable like that shown below:Both the SATA hard drive and the Blu Ray drive have SATA connections so why are they both showing in the IDE section of the BIOS ? (screenshot directly below)Here's a screenshot of what I see in the BIOS:Now what has got me confused is that the BIOS sees my 4 SATA II connections as IDE connections In my motherboard screenshot (below) the SATA hard drive and Blu Ray drive are connected to 2 of the SATA II connectors (highlighted in red) whilst my DVD writer (from my old PC) is connected to the solitary IDE connector (highlighted in blue) and yet doesn't show up in the BIOS Either one of 3 things has happened:1. There's a setting somewhere in the BIOS to turn on the old type IDE channel but I can't find it2. I've connected my DVD writer to the end of the IDE cable instead of in the middle (I don't know if it matters)3. I have the jumper settings wrong on the DVD writer itself and I don't know what the settings are on now as I can't find the manualp.s. this is my motherboard specs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 I feel sure you are right about bios settings. There is a section somewhere that will either allow SATA only or "legacy" (or some other similar computerspeakes word). I came across it recently and it would allow a SATA HD and a EIDE HD to run (on their respective sockets of course!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyWhirly Posted January 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 I feel sure you are right about bios settings. There is a section somewhere that will either allow SATA only or "legacy" (or some other similar computerspeakes word). I came across it recently and it would allow a SATA HD and a EIDE HD to run (on their respective sockets of course!).I'll have to have another look in the BIOS as I really need to have that second drive working to save on disk swapping not to mention saving wear and tear on the Blu Ray drive (which is expensive)If I can't get it working then I will have to ring ZooStorm (the PC manufacturer) in the morning but whether they will help out is debateable as I've opened up the PC tower to add the DVD writer not to mention adding a SoundBlaster xi-fi sound card (but that's working okay) and it's still under a 12 month warranty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 I feel sure you are right about bios settings. There is a section somewhere that will either allow SATA only or "legacy" .I'll have to have another look in the BIOS as I really need to have that second drive working to save on disk swapping not to mention saving wear and tear on the Blu Ray drive (which is expensive)If I can't get it working then I will have to ring ZooStorm (the PC manufacturer) in the morning but whether they will help out is debateable as I've opened up the PC tower to add the DVD writer not to mention adding a SoundBlaster xi-fi sound card (but that's working okay) and it's still under a 12 month warranty.I saw it on the machine I recently put together for a friend. I was going to put Windows on a EIDE and Unbuntu on a SATA. He ended up with Ubuntu on the SATA only because he changed his mind, but, in the fiddling about prior the that, I found the section in the MB manual where the setting to allow both is detailed (if "detailed" is the right expression to use)The most difficult bit is finding the English section of a manual printed in all the world known languages (including Jedi and text speak innit lik) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hb_Kai Posted January 12, 2009 Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 The BIOS is a program for recognising the hardware connected to the PC. It may be that you don't have a working driver for your DVD writer. Either, you don't have one at all, you have a corrupted driver, or your driver isn't compatible with Vista. In which case, you should be able to either download one from the manufacturer's website, or from somewhere else on the internet. If you have changed any of the physical settings to the PC, I don't think the PC's manufacturer's will help you. But the manufacturer whom you purchased the drive from should do. One of the other. If not, they'll hang up on you. In which case, ring them back and shout abuse at them. When I tried this last time it got somewhere. But I wouldn't recommend it because it will possibly get you to the police station too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyWhirly Posted January 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 The BIOS is a program for recognising the hardware connected to the PC. It may be that you don't have a working driver for your DVD writer. Either, you don't have one at all, you have a corrupted driver, or your driver isn't compatible with Vista. In which case, you should be able to either download one from the manufacturer's website, or from somewhere else on the internet. If you have changed any of the physical settings to the PC, I don't think the PC's manufacturer's will help you. But the manufacturer whom you purchased the drive from should do. One of the other. If not, they'll hang up on you. In which case, ring them back and shout abuse at them. When I tried this last time it got somewhere. But I wouldn't recommend it because it will possibly get you to the police station too.I rang ZooStorm who talked me through a solution over the phone.Their customer service is first class. Apparently because I have a floppy drive installed and the BIOS looks for it at boot time, this confuses the BIOS and it misses out on the detection of the DVD writer because it's using the older IDE channel (as opposed to the SATA channel)The solution was to disable the 'Boot Up Floppy Seek' setting in the BIOS and it is now showing in both the BIOS and in Vista.Before:After:It's there in Vista as well:The technical support said that in the worse case scenario, I could have simply bought a SATA to IDE convertor (below)Quite a bit cheaper than buying a new DVD writer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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